There is a growing body of information that viruses play a vital role in a broad range of diseases, some of which represent the most serious of man's ills. Arthritis, juvenile arthritis, diabetes, Hodgkin's disease and various immunological diseases and degenerative diseases of the central nervous system have been linked to viruses as the causative agents.
At present, the control of virus infections is primarily achieved by means of immunization vaccines. For example, poliomyelitis, smallpox, measles and influenza are well recognized diseases in which viral vaccines have proven effective. In general, however, viral vaccines have had only a moderate success in animal prophylaxis. Each vaccine acts primarily against a specific virus and is not heterophilic in the protection it offers. Hence, vaccines do not provide a practical solution against the wide array of infectious viruses, even when limited as for example, solely to respiratory viruses.
One approach to the control of virus-related diseases and, particularly to the spread of such virus diseases, has been to search for medicinal agents or chemotherapeutic agents which are capable of inhibiting the growth of viruses, thereby preventing the spread of disease as well as preventing further damage to cells and tissues of the animal host which have not as yet been infected. Heretofore, only a limited number of virus infections such as smallpox, Asian influenza and herpes keratistis have been susceptible to prevention by chemical antiviral agents. Sulfonamides and antibiotics which have revolutionized the treatment of bacterial infections have substantially no effect upon virus infections. Certain infections caused by large viruses, such as lymphogranuloma venereum, psittacosis and trachoma have been successfully treated using antibiotics and sulfa drugs. However, the majority of infections have not been responsive to attack by chemotherapeutic agents. Thus, it can be seen that there is a need for new chemotherapeutic agents which are effective against a broad range of virus diseases, and which at the same time, are non-toxic to the host.
As a result of a long series of investigations, applicants have discovered a novel class of 3,6-bis-basic ketone derivatives of acenaphthene, which are particularly useful as antiviral agents. These compounds are effective against a wide spectrum of virus infections and are useful in both the therapeutic and prophylactic treatment of such infections. To applicants' knowledge the compounds of the present invention have not been previously described nor reported in the literature. Furthermore, applicants are not aware of any acenaphthene derivatives which have been previously reported to possess antiviral activity. The compounds described herein possess a wide spectrum of antiviral activity which could not have been predicted from a knowledge of the present state of the art.
The compounds of this invention are prepared from readily available acenaphthene. British Pat. Specification 291,347 discloses a Friedel-Crafts preparation of a bis-(chloroacetyl)derivative of acenaphthene, having the reported configuration: ##STR1## The closest prior art known to applicants, Chemical Abstracts 59, 12724.sup.a (1963), discloses a Friedel-Crafts diacetylation of acenaphthene in order to prepare a compound having the structure: ##STR2## Although the abstract describes the compound as a 2,5-diacetyl derivative of acenaphthene, the presently recommended Chemical Abstracts nomenclature is that of a 3,6-diacetyl derivative of acenaphthene, the acenaphthene ring system being numbered as indicated below: ##STR3##